Display apparatus displaying image of surroundings of vehicle

ABSTRACT

A display apparatus displaying an image of surroundings of a vehicle includes a camera capturing an image of the surroundings of the vehicle, and a display monitor provided inside the vehicle for superimposingly displaying the image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by the camera, and a first distance indicator line and a second distance indicator line, wherein the first distance indicator line indicates a first predetermined distance from the vehicle and the second distance indicator line indicates a second predetermined distance from the vehicle, the second distance indicator line is positioned farther away from the vehicle than the first distance indicator line, and the first distance indicator line is wider than the second distance indicator line.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 toJapanese Patent Application 2006-308085, filed on Nov. 14, 2006, theentire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates to a display apparatus displaying animage of surroundings of a vehicle.

BACKGROUND

Among conventional methods for assisting a beginner during a parkingoperation, who is not familiar with parallel parking and/orperpendicular parking operations, for example, a method described inJP11-334470A is known. A parking assist system disclosed in theJP11-334470A includes a CCD camera provided at a back of a vehicle forcapturing an image behind the vehicle and a monitor display fordisplaying the image captured by the CCD camera. On the monitor display,a traveling locus of the vehicle, predicted based on a steering angle,and the image behind the vehicle are superimposedly displayed. Thepredicted traveling locus of the vehicle includes a line indicating amoving direction of the vehicle and distance indicator lines indicatingdistances from the vehicle. The distance indicator lines include thedistance indicator line positioned near the vehicle and another distanceindicator line positioned farther away from the vehicle than thedistance indicator line displayed near the vehicle.

JP7-174576A discloses a method for displaying information of anintersection and an apparatus for providing road information, whichallows an easy identification of types of roads at an intersection byproviding an appropriate display setting for a driver having colorweakness or being color blind, or for a vehicle passenger affected by areflection of a display screen to better suit individual visualcapability. More specifically, the method for displaying information andthe display apparatus allow the driver and the vehicle passenger toidentify different types of roads by means of arrows having differentpatterns and widths. In addition, the method for displaying informationand the display apparatus allow the driver and the vehicle passenger toset a display style based on a visual capability of a user by means of“a style for displaying the types of roads and direction”, utilizingelements of, for example, shapes, colors and light-dark intensity.

However, in the predicted traveling locus of the vehicle ofJP11-334470A, the lines closer to the vehicle and the lines farther awayfrom the vehicle, specifically the distance indicator line positionedcloser to the vehicle and the distance indicator line positioned fartheraway from the vehicle than the distance indicator line positioned closerto the vehicle, are displayed in approximately the same widths.Consequently, a person having normal eyesight and a person having colorweakness may find it difficult to identify the distance indicator lines.In this case, parking assist may not work best.

The method and the apparatus disclosed in JP7-174576A allow the personhaving color weakness to set the display setting based on the visualcapability of a user, however, they do not facilitate a better sense ofdistance relative to the vehicle. In addition, according to the methodand the apparatus disclosed in JP7-174576A, the display setting needs tobe changed to suit the use by the person having normal eyesight and by aperson having color weakness individually, which may lead tomisidentification of lines or misoperation in case of an inappropriatedisplay setting.

A need thus exists for a display apparatus displaying an image ofsurroundings of a vehicle, which is not susceptible to the drawbackmentioned above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In light of the foregoing, the present invention provides a displayapparatus displaying an image of surroundings of a vehicle, whichincludes a camera capturing an image of the surroundings of the vehicle;and a display monitor provided inside the vehicle for superimposinglydisplaying the image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by thecamera, and a first distance indicator line and a second distanceindicator line, wherein the first distance indicator line indicates afirst predetermined distance from the vehicle and the second distanceindicator line indicates a second predetermined distance from thevehicle, the second distance indicator line is positioned farther awayfrom the vehicle than the first distance indicator line, and the firstdistance indicator line is wider than the second distance indicatorline.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a display apparatus fordisplaying an image of surroundings of a vehicle according to theembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a screen of a display monitor during theparallel parking operation.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a predicted traveling locus displayed on thescreen illustrated in FIG. 2. (For an explanatory purpose, only thepredicted traveling locus is extracted and displayed.)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One embodiment according to the present invention will be describedbelow with reference to the attached drawings.

A display apparatus 1 for displaying an image of surroundings of avehicle is applicable to a back-in parking operation including aperpendicular parking operation (a parking mode where a vehicle isparked perpendicular to, for example, a curb of a road) and to aparallel parking operation (a parking mode where a vehicle is parkedparallel to, for example, a curb of a road and where the vehicle isparallel to the curb or the road when the parking operation begins). Theembodiment shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 is an example where the displayapparatus 1 for displaying the image of the surroundings of the vehicleis applied, for example, to a parking assist system for assisting theperpendicular parking.

As shown in FIG. 1, the display apparatus 1 (i.e., serving as theparking assist system) for displaying the image of the surroundings ofthe vehicle according to the embodiment includes a controller 16, acamera 17 (according the embodiment, a camera for capturing an imagebehind the vehicle is applied), a steering sensor 2 for detecting asteering angle of a steering wheel, a shift lever switch 3 for detectingwhether a shift lever of a transmission is in a reverse position,parking switches 4, 4 for selecting a mode of parking, for example theparallel parking or the perpendicular parking, a right wheel speedsensor 5 and a left wheel speed sensor 6 for detecting wheel speed of aright driven wheel and a left driven wheel respectively, a speaker 8, adisplay monitor 13 and an image recognition device 15 for detecting apair of parking lines 35, 35.

As shown in FIG. 1, the controller 16 includes a CPU 11 for performingcontrol, a graphics drawing circuit 12 for drawing graphics on thedisplay monitor 13, a superimposing circuit 9 for superimposing agraphic signal and a captured image by the camera 17 on the displaymonitor 13, a synchronizing separator circuit 10 for extractingsynchronizing signals out of the image captured by the camera 17 and forsupplying the synchronizing signals to the graphics drawing circuit 12,the image recognition device 15 for detecting the pair of parking lines35, 35 by receiving signals from the camera 17 and then recognizing animage of the pair of parking lines 35, 35, and a voice synthesizingcircuit 7 for outputting synthesized voice to the speaker 8. The imagerecognition device 15 may be provided separately from the controller 16.

As shown in FIG. 1, signals from the camera 17, the steering sensor 2,the shift lever switch 3, the parking switches 4, 4 and the wheel speedsensors 5, 6 are input to the controller 16. Based on these signals, thecontroller 16 superimposingly displays the image behind the vehicle andthe below-mentioned predicted traveling locus 20, on a screen 14 of thedisplay monitor 13, and the speaker 8 emits voice messages to a driver.

In the display apparatus 1 for displaying the image of the surroundingsof the vehicle having the above described configuration, when anignition of the vehicle is on and when the shift lever is moved into inthe reverse position, a parking assist screen appears on the displaymonitor 13, where the image behind the vehicle and the predictedtraveling locus 20 are superimposedly displayed as shown in FIG. 2.Under this condition, selection switches (the parking switches 4, 4) foractuating, for example, the parking assist for the parallel parkingoperation or the perpendicular parking operation appear on the display.According to the embodiment, the parking assist for the perpendicularparking operation is selected.

As the screen 14 superimposingly displays the image behind the vehicleand the predicted traveling locus 20, the driver maneuvers and thenmaintains the steering wheel in an appropriate position, and drives thevehicle backward while looking at the screen 14 or physically lookingback. To complete parking the vehicle properly between the pair ofparking lines 35, 35, the driver counter steers the steering wheel anddrives the vehicle backward to a furthest rear position of the pair ofparking lines 35, 35 once the vehicle is positioned parallel to the pairof parking lines 35, 35.

As shown in FIG. 2, the predicted traveling locus 20 includes a pair oflines 21, 21 each arranged on right and left in the display monitor(i.e., serving as a pair of lines each extending in a direction that thevehicle is predicted to move), which are cooperated with a steeringoperation and are changeable so as to extend in a direction that thevehicle is expected to move. The predicted traveling locus 20 alsoincludes distance indicator lines 22, 23 and 24 (i.e., serving as afirst distance indicator line 22, a second distance indicator line 23and a third distance indicator line 24) indicating predetermineddistances from the vehicle respectively, which are cooperated with thesteering operation and change each position so as to indicate eachdistance from the vehicle. Vehicle width extension lines 25, 25 showingfor reference vehicle's predicted traveling locus when the vehicle movesbackward in a straight manner are also superimposed on the image behindthe vehicle and displayed on the screen 14 of the display monitor 13.The vehicle width extension lines 25, 25 are displayed being overlappedwith the predicted traveling locus 20 when the vehicle is movingstraight. A bumper 30 of the vehicle is shown at a bottom portion of thescreen 14 as shown in FIG. 2.

The distance indicator lines 22, 23 and 24 include the first distanceindicator line 22 indicating a first predetermined distance from thevehicle, the second distance indicator line 23 indicating a secondpredetermined distance from the vehicle and the third distance indicatorline 24. The second distance indicator line 23 is positioned fartheraway from the vehicle than the first distance indicator line 22. Thethird distance indicator line 24 is positioned farther away from thevehicle than the second distance indicator line 23. In the embodimentshown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the distance indicator lines 22, 23 and 24extended in a lateral direction of the vehicle relative to the pair oflines 21, 21 each arranged on the right and left, that is, the distanceindicator lines 22, 23 and 24 extend in a horizontal direction of FIG.2. Specifically, first ends and second ends of the distance indicatorlines 22 and 23 are connected to the pair of lines 21, 21 respectively,at points each located along the pair of lines 21, 21. A first end and asecond end of the distance indicator line 24 are connected to the pairof lines 21, 21 each arranged on the right and left at distal endsthereof, respectively.

The first distance indicator line 22 is positioned, for example,approximately 0.5 meters from a rear end of the bumper 30 of the vehicleand the second distance indicator line 23 is positioned approximately1.0 meter from the rear end of the bumper 30 of the vehicle. The driverrecognizes a position of the vehicle relative to the target parkingspace by looking at the distance indicator lines 22, 23 and 24.According to the embodiment, the first distance indicator line 22 ispositioned closest to the end of the bumper 30 of the vehicle.

As shown in FIG. 2, the first distance indicator line 22 is wider thanthe second distance indicator line 23 and the second distance indicatorline 23 is wider than the third distance indicator line 24. That is, thedistance indicator lines 22, 23 and 24 are displayed in different widthsaccording to each distance from the vehicle, so that the nearer the lineis to the vehicle, the wider the line is displayed.

With the above described structure, it is certainly recognized that thedistance indicator line 22 is closer to the vehicle compared to that thedistance indicator line 23 and the distance indicator line 23 is closerto the vehicle compared to that the distance indicator line 24, therebyallowing both a person having normal eyesight and a person having colorweakness to certainly have a sense of distance. For example, in case thefirst distance indicator line 22 is displayed in red, the first distanceindicator line 22 looks darker to a person having less sensitivity tored, which may make it difficult for the person having less sensitivityto red to identify the distance indicator line 22. By displaying thefirst distance indicator line 22 wider than the second distanceindicator line 23 according to the embodiment, the first distanceindicator line 22 is identified with a good perspective relative to thesecond distance indicator line 23, thus assuring the sense of distance.

The first distance indicator line 22 preferably includes a main line 22a and additional portions 22 b and 22 c (i.e., serving as a shadedportion and a highlighted portion respectively) having different colorsor darker tones from the main line 22 a, and displayed along the mainline 22 a.

That is, the first distance indicator line 22 is preferably formed byplural lines having different colors or darker tones and being arrangedadjacent to each other in a moving direction of the vehicle.

Specifically, according to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, thefirst distance indicator line 22 includes the main line 22 a, the shadedportion 22 b displayed along a closer portion of the main line 22 a tothe vehicle, and the highlighted portion 22 c displayed along a fartherportion of main line 22 a from the vehicle. According to the embodiment,the additional portions 22 b and 22 c are displayed along the both sidesof the main line 22 a in the moving direction of the vehiclerespectively but are not limited to this and the additional portion maybe displayed along only one side of the main line 22 a. For example,only one of the shaded portion 22 b and the highlighted portion 22 c maybe displayed.

In addition, the main line 22 a is preferably displayed in such a colorthat draws attention of the person having normal eyesight, for example,red. The shaded portion 22 b is preferably displayed in, for example,black. The highlighted portion 22 c is preferably displayed in yellowbecause the color is easily identified by the person having colorweakness.

According to the embodiment as shown in FIG. 2, the first distanceindicator line 22 is formed by the lines each having different colorsand widths (the main line 22 a, the shaded portion 22 b and thehighlighted portion 22 c), however, the first distance indicator line 22may be formed by the lines having approximately same widths.

The main line 22 a, constituting the distance indicator line 22, ispreferably wider than the second distance indicator line 23.

According to the embodiment, the distance indicator lines 22, 23 and 24are shown as full lines but are not limited to the full lines and may beshown as dashed lines, alternate long and short dashed lines or anyother types of lines as long as serving as an indication of thedistance. A concept of the distance indicator lines also includesmultiple rectangular markers aligned on a straight line. In addition,the first distance indicator line 22 does not need to be displayed allthrough between the pair of lines 21, 21 each arranged on the right andleft and may only be displayed in vicinities of the pair of lines 21, 21respectively. According to the embodiment, the three distance indicatorlines 22, 23 and 24 are displayed but two distance indicator lines, orfour distance indicator lines may be displayed.

The pair of lines 21, 21 are preferably displayed so as to be graduallywider in portions that are closer to the vehicle in order to provide abetter sense of distance. Other lines, included in the predictedtraveling locus 20 than the first distance indicator line 22, aredisplayed in yellow.

The vehicle width extension lines 25, 25 are displayed preferably inblue, considering a visibility of the person having color weakness.Further, the vehicle width extension lines 25, 25 may be displayed so asto be displayed gradually wider in portions that are closer to thevehicle.

An application of the display apparatus 1 displaying the surroundings ofthe vehicle is not limited to the parking assist system assisting theperpendicular parking operation. The display apparatus 1 displaying thesurroundings of the vehicle may be applied to the parking assist systemassisting the parallel parking operation or assisting a street-sideparking operation (a parking mode where a vehicle is parked on aroadside), or may be applied to a system for guiding a forward movementof a vehicle, which is adapted to the parking assist system. Further,the display apparatus 1 for displaying the surroundings of the vehiclemay be applied to other devices than the parking assist device.According to the embodiment, the surroundings of the vehicle includesbehind the vehicle, in front of the vehicle and sides of the vehicle.The image of the surroundings of the vehicle is not limited to the imagecaptured by the camera 17 for capturing the image behind the vehicle asshown in the embodiment and may be images captured by a front camera ora side camera. Also, the configuration of the display apparatus is notlimited to the configuration described above.

According to the described subject matter, the above structure allowsboth the person having normal eyesight and the person having colorweakness to easily have the sense of distance without changing thedisplay setting.

According to the described subject matter, the image of the surroundingsof the vehicle includes the image of the surroundings of the vehiclecaptured by the camera 17 in the moving direction of the vehicle.

With the structure according to the described subject matter, both theperson having normal eyesight and the person having color weaknesscertainly have the sense of distance from the vehicle in the movingdirection of the vehicle.

According to the described subject matter, the display apparatus 1displaying the image of the surroundings of the vehicle further includesthe third distance indicator line 24 positioned farther away from thevehicle than the second distance indicator line 23 and the seconddistance indicator line 23 is wider than the third distance indicatorline 24.

With the structure according to the described subject matter, both theperson having normal eyesight and the person having color weaknesscertainly have the sense of distance from the vehicle without changingthe display setting.

According to the described subject matter, the display monitor 13superimposingly displays the image of the surroundings of the vehiclecaptured by the camera 17, the first distance indicator line 22 and thesecond distance indicator line 23, and the pair of lines 21, 21, whereinthe pair of lines 21, 21 are arranged on right and left so as to extendin the direction that the vehicle is predicted to move, and the firstdistance indicator line 22 and the second distance indicator line 23laterally extend relative to the pair of lines 21, 21.

With the structure according to the described subject matter, both theperson having normal eyesight and the person having color weaknesscertainly have the sense of distance from the vehicle during the parkingoperation without changing the display setting.

According to the described subject matter, each of the first distanceindicator line 22 or the second distance indicator line 23 is formed byplural lines having different colors and arranged adjacent to each otherin the moving direction of the vehicle respectively.

According to the described subject matter, the first distance indicatorline 22 includes the main line 22 a and the shaded portion 22 bdisplayed along the main line 22 a.

With the structure according to the described subject matter, the mainline 22 a is prevented from blending into a background screen, thusallowing the person having color weakness an improved visibility of thefirst distance indicator line 22 positioned closer to the vehicle.

According to the described subject matter, the first distance indicatorline 22 includes the main line 22 a and a yellow line displayed alongthe main line 22 a.

According to the described subject matter, the above structure allowsthe person having color weakness an improved visibility of the distanceindicator line 22 displayed closer to the vehicle.

The principles, preferred embodiment and mode of operation of thepresent invention have been described in the foregoing specification.However, the invention which is intended to be protected is not to beconstrued as limited to the particular embodiments disclosed. Further,the embodiments described herein are to be regarded as illustrativerather than restrictive. Variations and changes may be made by others,and equivalents employed, without departing from the spirit of thepresent invention. Accordingly, it is expressly intended that all suchvariations, changes and equivalents which fall within the spirit andscope of the present invention as defined in the claims, be embracedthereby.

1. A display apparatus displaying an image of surroundings of a vehicle,comprising: a camera capturing an image of the surroundings of thevehicle; and a display monitor provided inside the vehicle forsuperimposingly displaying the image of the surroundings of the vehiclecaptured by the camera, and a first distance indicator line and a seconddistance indicator line, wherein the first distance indicator lineindicates a first predetermined distance from the vehicle and the seconddistance indicator line indicates a second predetermined distance fromthe vehicle, the second distance indicator line is positioned fartheraway from the vehicle than the first distance indicator line, and thefirst distance indicator line is thicker than the second distanceindicator line; wherein each of the first distance indicator line or thesecond distance indicator line is formed by plural lines havingdifferent colors and arranged adjacent to each other in a movingdirection of the vehicle respectively.
 2. The display apparatusdisplaying the image of the surroundings of the vehicle according toclaim 1, wherein the image of the surroundings of the vehicle includesan image of the surroundings of the vehicle captured by the camera in amoving direction of the vehicle.
 3. The display apparatus displaying theimage of the surroundings of the vehicle according to claim 1, furthercomprising a third distance indicator line positioned farther away fromthe vehicle than the second distance indicator line, the second distanceindicator line being thicker than the third distance indicator line. 4.The display apparatus displaying the image of the surroundings of thevehicle according to claim 1, wherein the display monitorsuperimposingly displays the image of the surroundings of the vehiclecaptured by the camera, the first distance indicator line and the seconddistance indicator line, and a pair of lines, wherein the pair of linesare arranged on right and left so as to extend in a direction that thevehicle is predicted to move, and the first distance indicator line andthe second distance indicator line laterally extend relative to the pairof lines.
 5. A display apparatus displaying an image of surroundings ofa vehicle, comprising: a camera capturing an image of the surroundingsof the vehicle; and a display monitor provided inside the vehicle forsuperimposingly displaying the image or the surroundings of the vehiclecaptured by the camera, and a first distance indicator line and a seconddistance indicator line, wherein the first distance indicator lineindicates a first predetermined distance from the vehicle and the seconddistance indicator line indicates a second predetermined distance fromthe vehicle, the second distance indicator line is positioned fartheraway from the vehicle than the first distance indicator line, and thefirst distance indicator line is thicker than the second distanceindicator line; wherein the first distance indicator line includes amain line and a shaded portion displayed along the main line.
 6. Adisplay apparatus displaying an image of surroundings of a vehicle,comprising: a camera capturing an image of the surroundings of thevehicle; and a display monitor provided inside the vehicle forsuperimposingly displaying the image of the surroundings of the vehiclecaptured by the camera, and a first distance indicator line and a seconddistance indicator line, wherein the first distance indicator lineindicates a first predetermined distance from the vehicle and the seconddistance indicator line indicates a second predetermined distance fromthe vehicle, the second distance indicator line is positioned fartheraway from the vehicle than the first distance indicator line, and thefirst distance indicator line is thicker than the second distanceindicator line; wherein the first distance indicator line includes amain line and a yellow line displayed along the main line.